Our Lady of Guadalupe

MEXICO, CATHOLIC SAINT

One December morning, a woman of mixed heritage appeared before native Mexican peasant Juan Diego and spoke to him in his native tongue, Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. She said she was the mother of the very true deity, the Virgin Mary, and asked for a church to be built in her honor on that very hill.

Juan Diego sought the archbishop of Mexico City, Friar Juan de Zumárraga, to tell him of the occurrence. The archbishop was skeptical, but when Juan Diego saw the woman again, and she again told him to build the church, the archbishop asked for a miracle to be performed to prove her identity. She agreed and told Juan Diego to return to the hill the next day. But the next day Juan Diego was forced to go to his dying uncle, Juan Bernardino. The day after, the woman caught Juan Diego trying to sneak around the hill he was supposed to meet her on. When he guiltily admitted to his reasons, the woman chided him, saying, “Am I not here, I who am your mother?” She told him to climb the hill and gather the flowers there.

The hill, normally barren in December, was bursting with Castilian roses, native to Spain, not Mexico. The woman helped Juan Diego gather the roses in his cloak. When he presented the full blooms to the archbishop, they found the cloak covered in the image of the woman. Juan Diego returned to his uncle and found Juan Bernardino fully healed by the gifted woman. She then asked to be known as Guadalupe. The archbishop accepted these miracles and began construction of a chapel on Tepeyac Hill.

Our Lady of Guadalupe has come to represent mestizos, or people of mixed native and European heritage. She is a symbol of peace, healing, and unity.

Tam Lin

SCOTLAND, SCOTTISH FAIRY TALE

There once was a girl named Janet who used to take a shortcut through the woods of a deserted estate. One evening while taking this shortcut, she met a man so beautiful and dressed so grandly, she thought he was a fairy prince. They started talking and then flirting all through the night, and Janet went home very well pleased. But a few months later, she realized she was pregnant. Her family told her she had only a couple of options: to get rid of the baby or to get married. Janet ignored this and went in search of the father of her child.

Finding him in the same forest, Janet confronted him. He told her his name was Tam Lin and that he wasn’t a fairy but had owned the estate before being captured by the Fae. Upon further inquiry, Tam Lin said he could be freed but only if Janet grabbed him off his horse and didn’t let him go.

Janet agreed, and the next night she waited and watched as the Fairy royal procession passed. She saw many beautiful courtiers and the Fairy Queen who had trapped Tam Lin, and finally Tam Lin himself. Leaping from her hiding place, Janet grabbed Tam Lin and held him tight. The Fairy Queen laughed and proceeded to transform Tam Lin into every animal imaginable, and even a few that were never before seen by Janet. One was Ammit, a creature that was part lion, part hippopotamus, and part crocodile and who ate impure hearts.

After hours of this, and just as Janet didn’t think she could hold on any longer, the dawn rose, the Fae vanished, and the spell was broken. Janet let go of Tam Lin, human and free again, and the two soon wed and had many more children in Tam Lin’s restored estate.

The Monkey King, Sun Wukong

CHINA, CHINESE MYTHOLOGY

There once was a magic rock on top of a mountain that split open to reveal a monkey inside. The magic monkey joined a band of normal monkeys and soon became their king, naming himself the Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong. He proceeded to defeat the dragons of the four seas in battle. In his victory, he was given the magical golden-banded staff, Ruyi Jingu Bang; a golden chainmail shirt; a phoenix-feather cap; and cloud-walking boots. With all his new power, he established himself as an invincible demon, even going so far as to storm into Hell and erase his name from the Book of Life and Death.

Heaven was impressed enough to invite him to the celestial court but not enough to treat him with respect. Furious, Sun Wukong ate the peaches of immortality and the pills of longevity and drank the royal wine. He gained even more powers and abilities and proceeded to single-handedly defeat every warrior in Heaven. Heaven finally asked Buddha for help.

Buddha bet Sun Wukong that he couldn’t escape the Buddha. The Monkey King smugly accepted and flew to the ends of the earth, where he graffitied the five pillars. He leapt back and landed in the Buddha’s palm. There he was surprised to find that the five “pillars” he had painted were in fact the fingers of the Buddha’s hand.

Buddha then trapped Sun Wukong beneath a mountain for five hundred years, releasing him only to assist the monk Tang Sanzang on a journey to the West to retrieve the Buddhist sutras. The two were joined by two others who had to atone for their crimes. The small group experienced many tribulations and trials, during which Sun Wukong learned many virtues and the teachings of Buddha, before successfully accomplishing their mission and returning to China. Finally, Sun Wukong faced Buddha once again. At last he was freed and granted Buddhahood for his service and strength.

The Pandavas

INDIA, HINDU EPIC MAHABHARATA

The king of Hastinapur, named Pandu, once accidentally shot and killed Sage Rishi Kindama and his wife, who were making love in the form of deer. With his dying breath, the sage cursed the king, declaring that he would die if he ever loved his wives or any other woman. In penance, King Pandu renounced his throne and went into exile with his wives, Kunti and Madri.

With King Pandu unable to father children, Kunti asked the gods Yama, Vayu, Svarga, and the Ashvin twins to father her and Madri’s children. They gave birth to five sons, and these five brothers—Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva—became known as the Pandavas.

One day Pandu coveted his wife Madri and, just as the curse promised, he died. The Pandava brothers then returned to Hastinapur in order to reclaim the throne for their brother Yudhisthira. But Pandu’s brother Dhritarashtra had been reigning in their absence. During those years, Dhritarashtra and his wife, Gandhari, had one hundred sons, known as the Kauravas, with the eldest, named Duryodhana, intending to inherit the kingdom.

Sensing a rivalry, Duryodhana built a flammable house and asked the Pandavas to stay in it. The brothers managed to escape through a tunnel and into the forest before Duryodhana set fire to the house. In the forest, they soon heard about an archery contest to win the beautiful Princess Draupadi. Arjuna then won the archery contest, and by their mother’s desire that the brothers share everything equally among them, all five Pandavas married Draupadi.

The Pandavas returned home, and Dhritarashtra split the kingdom in two, giving the prosperous half to his son, Duryodhana, and the barren half to his nephew Yudhisthira. The Pandava brothers developed their half so well that the lands began to rival the heavens, and Duryodhana became jealous. Using magical dice, Duryodhana managed to trick Yudhisthira into condemning the Pandavas and their wife into thirteen years of exile. The Pandavas were furious with their brother, but they managed to stay unified and used the time to prepare for war. Upon returning from exile, they initiated the Kurukshetra War, which ended with the death of all one hundred Kauravas and the ascension of Yudhisthira to the throne.

Yemoja

NIGERIA, YORUBA DEITY

Yemoja is a Yoruban orisha, or deity, of rivers and surface ocean waters. Though originally worshipped in Nigeria as part of the African diaspora, she is celebrated in places in the Americas such as Cuba, Brazil, and Uruguay, all with different stories and powers attributed to her.

Yemoja existed at the beginning of creation, and all life and all orishas come from her waters. At the very start, she married Oko, the orisha of farming. But she became unhappy with him and left him to live in the sea, where the orisha Olokun initiated her to the way of the oceans. She became in charge of rivers and surface waters, the parts teeming with life, and was named Yeye omo eja, or “mother of fishes,” for her countless progeny. Olokun, for his part, became in charge of the deep dark ocean, and only Yemoja is able to soothe his wrath when he creates tidal waves and storms.

After a time, Yemoja returned to the surface seeking a new husband and more children. She at various points married Obatala, Orula, Babalu, Aye, Orisha, and in some stories, Oyun. She then married the orisha Aganyu, and they had a son named Orungan. Unfortunately, Orungan began to covet Yemoja and tried to force himself on his mother. She refused him, and instead her water broke and she flooded the world while giving birth to fourteen orishas and the first humans. She then returned to the ocean and is now seen only rarely by people.

Though she is infrequently seen, Yemoja still cares deeply for her worshippers, especially women and children. She governs conception, childbirth, infertility, parenting, child safety, love, and healing. She oversees secrets, wisdom, the moon, and the unconscious. Her particular symbols are cowrie shells and the color blue. She is known to be particularly kind to those who drown at sea in her waters, including those who were taken far from their homes.

Osiris, Set, and Isis

EGYPT, EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

In the beginning, Ra rose and created the world. He created the earth god, Geb, and the sky goddess, Nut, and together they produced the gods Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Ra ruled Egypt for a while, but eventually his kingship passed to Osiris. Osiris ruled with his queen, Isis, and they ruled by the rule of maat, or natural and righteous order. But Set brought chaos and destruction, murdered Osiris, chopped him up, and scattered the pieces of his body throughout Egypt.

Isis cried, and her tears flooded the Nile, bringing life to its banks. She fled from Set and, with the help of Nephthys, flew as a falcon to find the pieces of her husband. When all the pieces were collected, Isis called upon Thoth, god of magical healing, and Anubis, god of funerary rights, to restore her husband. They came together and used their powers to turn Osiris into the first mummy.

Isis flew above Osiris and blew life into her husband with the beating of her wings. She then laid with him and became pregnant. Osiris left to rule over Duat, the land of the dead. Isis, meanwhile, hid in a thicket of papyrus until giving birth to their son, Horus.

The young Horus was vulnerable, and Set sent many dangerous creatures to poison or hurt him. He endured everything from scorpion stings to snakebites to stomachaches. Isis, with magical healing powers of her own, repeatedly cured and saved her child and thus gave these cures to the people of Egypt.

Eventually Horus grew up and challenged Set for his kingship. To determine who should rule, the contests were judged by the Ennead, or group of Egyptian deities. The duels were long and brutal and resulted in the loss of Horus’s eye. After many years of warring, Horus finally rose victorious. Set was then banished to the desert, and Horus ruled justly as his father did before him.

Rapunzel

GERMANY, GERMAN FAIRY TALE

There once was a poor couple who dearly wanted a child. When the woman became pregnant, she was filled with an insatiable craving for the leaves of her neighbor’s rapunzel plant. Unfortunately, their neighbor was a witch, so the husband was too scared to ask for some. But his wife soon became sick and began to die for want of the plant, so her husband silently scaled the witch’s garden wall and stole some rapunzel. But before he could make his escape, the witch caught him. The witch promised to give the man all the rapunzel his wife wanted, but in exchange they would have to give the newborn to her. The terrified man agreed, and nine months later a baby girl named Rapunzel was born and reluctantly given to the witch.

Rapunzel grew to be very beautiful, with long golden hair. When she turned twelve, the witch locked her in a tower with no stairs or doors, only one room and one window. The tower was surrounded by thorns. To visit the girl, the witch stood at the base of the tower and shouted up to Rapunzel to let down her hair so that she could climb up the long tresses. One day a prince heard Rapunzel’s lovely singing and saw the witch visiting her. After the witch left, the prince ascended Rapunzel’s tower. She was shocked at first, but soon they talked, fell in love, and agreed to marry. They planned Rapunzel’s escape, and the prince left to get her a silk ladder.

When the witch returned, she instantly detected Rapunzel’s deception. Furious, she chopped off Rapunzel’s hair and banished her to the wastelands. When the prince returned, the witch pushed him from the tower, where he landed in the thorns and lost both of his eyes.

The prince wandered blind for many years until one day he heard Rapunzel’s beautiful singing. He followed her voice, and they were reunited. Rapunzel cried happy tears, some of which fell over his eyes, and his vision was restored. They returned to his kingdom and lived happily ever after.

Coyote

PACIFIC NORTHWEST, SALISH LEGEND

There are no buffalo on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, and that is Coyote’s fault. Coyote is a trickster, and while he has done many good things for the world, he has also done just as much bad.

Coyote was walking along on the plains to the east of the mountains when he found the skull of Buffalo Bull, who had been huge and terrifying to Coyote in life but weak and pathetic in death. Coyote laughed and mocked the skull, kicking and spitting on it before walking on with a delighted yip. It wasn’t long before Coyote heard a powerful rumble and looked over his shoulder to realize he was being chased down by Buffalo Bull himself, come back to life. Coyote used his magic to form three trees that he could scramble up. Buffalo Bull toppled two of the trees with his horns before Coyote managed to convince Buffalo Bull to take a break to smoke with him before tearing down the third tree.

Coyote distracted Buffalo Bull, asking him questions. He learned that Buffalo Bull had died at the hands of Young Buffalo, who had stolen Buffalo Bull’s fine herd. Coyote offered to make Buffalo Bull new horns that he could use to defeat Young Buffalo. Buffalo Bull agreed and decided not to kill Coyote. Coyote made him pitch-black horns that were heavy and sharp, and with these, Buffalo Bull returned to his herd and defeated Young Buffalo.

Buffalo Bull rewarded Coyote with a young cow and told him that if he never killed her, she would supply him with meat forever. Coyote only needed to slice off the fat—not the muscle as that would hurt the cow—with a knife, then rub ashes on the wound to heal it. Coyote ate this way for many days, returning to the western side of the mountains. But eventually Coyote grew tired of eating only fat and desired bone marrow and liver. He thought Buffalo Bull wouldn’t find out. However, when he killed the cow, magpies and crows swarmed and stole every last bit of her. Ashamed, Coyote returned to Buffalo Bull and discovered the cow among his herd again. Buffalo Bull refused to give Coyote a new cow, so Coyote was forced back to the west, where no buffalo roam to this day.

Princess Kaguya

JAPAN, JAPANESE FAIRY TALE

One day, an old childless bamboo cutter came across a mysteriously glowing stalk of bamboo. He cut it open and found a lovely, tiny baby girl inside. Delighted, he took her home to his wife, and they raised her as their own, naming her Kaguya. From then on, every bamboo stalk he cut down had gold in it—gold he used to become rich and give his daughter a fine education and beautiful clothes. As Kaguya grew older, she grew more radiant, and soon word of her magnificence spread.

Five princes proposed to her, and to each she gave an impossible task. The first was told to bring her the stone begging bowl of the Buddha Shakyamuni from India; the second, a jeweled branch from the mythical island of Hōrai; the third, the legendary robe of the fire-rat of China; the fourth, a colored jewel from a dragon’s neck; and the final prince, a cowrie shell born of swallows. All five princes failed, and Kaguya remained unwed. Then the Emperor of Japan proposed to her, and she denied even him.

That summer, Kaguya grew restless and anxious, visibly conflicted about some problem. Finally, like a clear lotus blossoming from murky waters, she confessed to her adopted parents that she was actually a princess from the Moon. She had been sent to Earth to remain protected while a celestial war wracked the heavens. But the war was over, and her heavenly family was coming to collect her. She was given the choice to stay with the woodcutter or return to the Moon and forget her life on Earth. It was a difficult decision with no clear answer.

Soon the celestial entourage came for Princess Kaguya, and she chose to go with them. With tears in her eyes, she said good-bye to her foster parents. When her heavenly robes were placed on her shoulders, her tears disappeared. She forgot her parents and all her time on Earth and returned to the Moon.

The Legend of the Watermelon

VIETNAM, VIETNAMESE LEGEND

A long time ago, an orphan boy ended up in service to the king of Vietnam. The king named him Mai An Tiem, and he grew up to be so charming, intelligent, and skillful that the king offered his own daughter in marriage. The king gifted the young Mai An Tiem a large house and many servants. When the princess gave birth to three children, the king gave them even more gifts, and the young family lived happily in wealth and comfort.

But the king’s favor for Mai An Tiem made others jealous. At one banquet, a courtier commented on Mai An Tiem’s good fortune, to which Mai An Tiem responded that all his good luck must be his own reward for living a good life. The sly courtier told the king that Mai An Tiem was ungrateful and did not respect the king and his generosity for elevating Mai An Tiem.

The king grew angry and banished Mai An Tiem and his small family to a desolate island. The family struggled to survive in the sand with little fresh water. Mai An Tiem was searching for more water when he saw a strange yellow bird pecking at something on the ground. Closer inspection revealed a juicy fruit with an interior as red as blood and full of seeds. Mai An Tiem ate a small bit and loved the sweet taste; it relieved his hunger and his thirst. He shared the rest with his family, and together they tilled the land and planted the seeds.

They soon had more of the fruit, which he called du’a hấu, or watermelon, than they could ever need, and Mai An Tiem began carving his name on the outside of the melons and setting them adrift in the sea. A merchant saw and ate them and came back to the family to trade for more. They started a watermelon business. It grew so large they needed a large house and many employees, and they became very wealthy once again.

By this time the king heard of Mai An Tiem’s watermelons and realized that it was Tiem’s resourcefulness and not the king’s favors that had brought his good fortune. The king begged Mai An Tiem’s forgiveness, which was granted, and the family was happily reunited with the king.